Are you being your own installer? You generally tile to the top of the cabinets; consider it like wallpaper and the cuts will happen where they happen. The starting point should be at the sink center and out from there on both sides. Follow the manufacturer's guideline for grout; I would probably err on the 3/16" side as the tiles have "handmade" edges.

Edit: the tile is 3X12. I can't seem to edit post without an error.

lot of cutting around the window (take it all the way up). you want full tiles on the largest swath of splash. you also don't want slivers in any of your corners. so do a dry layout on the larger parts of your wall. are you doing 5050 or 1/3rd offset?

If you start in the middle of the sink and work out both ways, what does that give you when you wrap around the corners? Try it a few diff ways until you get a symmetrical layout w/o tiny cuts in corners or the wrap arounds.

as for the space at the top under the cabs, if you go w/the larger grout spacing, does it still give you 3/4-1"? another option is to start w/a cut tile on the bottom row and split the diff.

Also, you're going to need some kind of edging at the outside corners to hide the cut tiles -- look at Schluyter (sp?) edging, maybe in nickel. It goes under the edges of the last tiles as you lay them and fills the gap where they meet.

Well, they should have bullnose tiles for the corners and visible ends. Schluter is a last-resort hack.

I just checked the Ann Sacks website; they make bullnose tiles in the OP's tile.

There is a pdf on the site that lists the trim pieces

https://www.annsacks.com/products/tile-stone-mosaic/arcilla-field-tile#/arcilla-rectangle

When you say 'brick pattern' you do mean running bond pattern correct? Doing a stacked pattern with a handmade tile would be a recipe for disaster.

We are planning Brick 50% offset.

Window wall: with 1/8" grout and 6 full pieces we end up with 1.65" left. 5 full pieces and 1/8 grout, end up with 14". We are thinking of doing the later, 5 full pieces and centering (sink, island are centered), splitting the 14" leftover for each side. What do you think?

Outside Corner layout, the short walls are almost 11", so maybe use 1/2 the tile (6-7" Pieces and wrap to the longer wall.

Beth, you think it would be better to go all the way to the ceiling. I really am not crazy about that look for my house, but want to consider if that is what you are suggesting.

Regarding outside corner pieces I bought some bullnose pieces for the left edge, but didn't think about the outside corners (nor suggested at Ann Sacks). One edge is glazed so we use the glazed edge for the corner.

For the outside Corner layout, the short walls are almost 11", so maybe use almost a full piece and 1/2 the tile (6"-7" Pieces) and then wrap to the longer wall.

Mathwise, the 1/8 or 3/16 will not make too much difference in the layout. Which do you think will look nicer?

Surprising to me that no one has mentioned the dissonance between the floor and the tile. Of course that question wasn’t asked.

Curious if you have any finished pics of your kitchen? I am considering the exact same tile in a kitchen with essentially the same color scheme